Marshall Valvestate 8040

I bought it as new in 1995.
I play blues, rock, hard rock and country, and this amp do all styles very well.
It has two channels, clean and overdrive. It has a serial fx loop and a line out jack. The amp comes with a foot switch that switches between the two channels. It also has a build in spring reverb.
I use this amp for both practising and gigs. It is very loud and if I were to play in a concert hall, I would just mike it up.

The clean channel sounds very good. It distorts a little when I turn the gain knob all the way up, but I think it is the power IC rather than the preamp. The OD channel is awesome. It can go from clean to screaming overdrive, and it does everything perfectly. Thanks to the contour knob, this channel is very versatile. Regarding noise this amp is very quiet, especially when grounded.

Once the power IC broke down, and I had a hard time finding a new one since the IC is now obsolete. Except from that I think it is very dependable.

I've been playing for 20 years. I use a TC 2290 and a Roland RSP-550 together with it, and I play a Fender std. Strat.
I bought the 8040 for practising as I bought a JCM 900 Hi Gain Dual Reverb for gigs, but I like the 8040 better.
If you can't get this thing to sound great, it has nothing to do with the amp.

This is the Marshall Valvestate 40V model 8040.
I bought this amp in the mid/early 90's, and played through it untill 10/03.
It could've used a headphone jack, considering it seems like it was made specifically to be as versatile as it could. Good amount of power for practice/playing at home, but struggles to keep up with a loud drummer in a rock band.
The tube is only used on the "Boost "Channel.

'83 Strat, and '98 LP Standard. Tried plenty of friends guitars.
The amp was kind of buzzy when plugged in near other electrical devices.
I did not like the "Boom" when swithing channels. Not a pop, but, more of a sound pressure change when the tube engages.
The "clean" channel was a little flat and dull, but totaly adequate for occasional use, or use with pedals, at low volume. When you turn it up about halfway, the "Blues Crunch" comes in, which is the clean channel just breaking up. This is what I really did not like about this amp. It was not able to do clean and loud. There probably is a nice slightly distorted sweet spot in there somewhere in between clean and the Dist. Channel, but I never played it that loud to find it.
The Dist. channel, has a very '80s hard rock sound. Very harsh and raspy. I used it with the volume up and the gain down to acheive a much brighter, crispier clean than the clean channel could . Sounds pretty good this way, but you could easily find another amp with a nice clean channel better suited for this purpose. The reverb was not great.

I purchased this new in the mid 90's when they first came out. I had to have it serviced a few times before a good tech figured out what was really wrong with it, and fixed it, until something else would go wrong. You could use it at a gig if if was working before the gig. It usually gave some warning that it was going to crap out. It was not abused or neglected in any way.

I've never dealt with them

I've been playing for 20 years. I have one main amp and this was it for about 9 years, I was never really excited about it, but it was an amp. It sounded OK generally but did not shine like the 1987x head I replaced it with . If you want tubes, just buy tubes. There is really no reason to mess around with these hybrid things.

Lots of features, 2 channels, efeects loop, etc. Just read the other reviews :-)

I play it with a '99 Ibanez rg505 with powerfull humbuckers. Sounds great!... I usually push the gain to a crunchy sound, about 1/5 the knob's range, and let the distortion pedals do the rest. Ok, it's not 100% fair, but the amp doesn't reach the kind of distortions I want. Sounds great with a wah pedal, both clean and distorted. Let's say it's a quiet amp with great distortion, with it you can play from jazz to heavy metal.

Remember I said it had 2 channels? Well, mine now has one. The normal channel got tired of living and waved goodbye with massive amount of feedback. I don't know what happened, the thing just crancked the volume up and almost blew my ears away. Fortunatly, I wasn't playing live. Anyway, the other channel still works and never gave me problems.

I never tried to solve the problem with that channel, it would probably be too expensive... So, I got no opinion.

I've playing it for about 2 years, I guess, and I can say it's a versatile and powerfull combo, not exactly reliable but trustworthy. If it was only for the sound I would give it a round 10...

Do you know what year the amp was made in?
1990's sometime

Is the amp versatile enough for you and the styles of music you play? What are those styles?
Stick the right Stompboxes infront of the boost channel with gain set to a REALLY low setting u get a valve sounding overdrive from what ever pedal you are using but in effect this turns the amp into single channel.. I cant stand the solidstate clean channel and it has no sparkle at all.

How many channels? Does it have channel switching? Effects loops? Headphone jack?
2, yes, yes, no

What features do you wish it had? Why? Are there features you never use?
Wish I had a mid range control on the boost channel other than the contour control.. and I also wish it had a way to disable the crunch on the clean channel.

Where do you use this amp? Does it have enough power for you?
It's never left my bedroom and it farts when it's cranked.. it doesnt even cut band rehershals unless I turn the distortion really down..

This amp does not sound like a full tube amp but it sure as hell sounds better than a full solidstate combo.. I am replacing this amp tommorow with a Laney LC15R Full Valve little combo.. cranking heaven.

What guitar and pickup styles are you using it with?
Fender MIJ 1984 Contempory Standard Strat with DiMarzio Superdistortion humbucker in the bridge and 2 Jap Strat stock single coils.

How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)?
I mainly play Satriani,Vai style music.. It suits it pretty well can handle it all within reason.. but doesnt nail the tones quite as much as I'd like.

Is it noisy? On what settings, and in what environments?
Quiet amp.

What kind of sounds can the amp make? How much variety?
Blues, Jazz, Metal, Rock it's done it all.. but with average sounds.

Is the clean channel distorted at high volumes? In what settings?
after 12'o'clock it distorts.. really gay wish it wouldnt.. but I know it's a built in feature.

How brutal is the distortion?
I can get just short of the metallica early album tones from this amp but dont be expecting anything like Santana or Clapton.. this amp just wont go that smooth.. but it can do the gritty stuff ok.

Can you depend on it? Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
It's 101% reliable.

Has the amp ever broken down? Because of neglect of
regular servicing (as in tubes), or just plain neglect?
nope it's worked pretty much fine all the time.

N/A

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
9 years, only amp I have but soon to be replaced.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
get something else.

what do you love about it? What do you hate?
I love the one tone I can get out of it with a Boss-DS1 for lead it really does shine but I cant get anything else I like out of the piece of crap.

Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?
I bought it ages ago was young and nieve I just wanted something with the marshall logo.. this time Im going to pick something worth my money.

Anything you wish it had?
Full valve power amp at the same price.. then it would rock.

Anything else you'd like to share?
Alround good amp for people who are just starting small club gigs and very good practice amp.. generally an ok amp I might be harsh on it but if your serious about tone.. save your cash for a full valve amp.. dont go Hybrid or Solidstate.. it's not worth it.

2 channels, Clean with simple corrections and Boost with parametric corrections - controls are Gain, Contour, Bass, Treble, Volume. Reverb control is one for both channels. Pretty loud for 40 Watt combo amp, it is enough for home practice and for playing with my wedding band. It has simple effect loop (Preamp out and Power amp in). Channels are footswitchable. Hybrid design. It has tube preamp and solid state power amp. Classic Marshall sound. Great amp, if you play stuff from blues to 80's instrumental pieces. If you play NU metal, is isn't your amp.

Sorry for my poor English.
I use this amp with my Kramer XL-2 (home modified, with installed Floyd Rose bridge, neck and bridge pickups are replaced with humbuckers) without any effects, only with volume pedal Proel.

Warning - when you want to get from this amp original Marshall tone, this amp requires guitar with powerfull pickups!! It isn't suitable for playing with cheap Strat type single pickups! With weak pickups it sounds like S***.

Before replacing pickups, it was very annoying hum, when I play on Boost channels, and gain was a bit weak for me for some advanced playing techniques (hammering, tapping, artificial harmonics). After replacing I plug my guitar into amp, dial gain to max - and i get typical tube high gain sound, sweet, warm, very close to sound of Y. Malmsteeen, R. Blackmore, G. Moore with bridge pickup, when I switch to neck pickup, it's instant Santana, Zeck Wylde and Slash sound. Sensitivity is fantastic, amp now reproducing all, what you doing on fretboard. Cool sustain! Simply Marshall sound! And little trick -distortion channel has typical tube sound only on lower settings of treble and contour controls. With high values of these controls it sounding too harsh, buzzing and solid-statish. Reverb has standard quality, is useable from 1/2 to 2/3, on higher settings is too "metallic", but it giving "vintage feelig" to sound. Clean is not crystallic "Fender clean", but is usable and O.K. for me.

This isn't modeling amp with number of sounds. It produce sweet tone from crunch to high gain tube-sounding distortion, but sound of this amp is very depending from type of your guitar and mainly from your pickups.

This amp is not very noisy, but it depending from type of used pickups, and remember for good grounding, when you plug it to AC mains.

Summary - This amp is great for Gary Moore type blues, rock, Deep Purple type hardrock, 80's classic metal and progressive instrumental leads. I don't recommended it for jazzmans, country players, for these purposes is better to buy some Fender. And for death and NU metal guitarist is this amp too much "musically" sounding, but with some stompbox like Metalzone ...

I use it without backup amp, but for backup i have Boss ME-10 for direct playing to P.A.
Never broken down. It's Marshall!

Some pots starting after time scratching, but i fix it with pot cleaning spray.

Never deal with Marshall.

Good loud combo amp, quite powerfull for home, recording and small stage, ideal for players of 80's classic rock guitar styles, classic analog warm Marshall sound for low price.

The other reviews pretty much spell out the features pretty well, so I'll just list my gripes (which are very few).
It only has two channels (clean and boost), which means you'd likely need a volume pedal for leads if you're playing in a larger than 3-piece group and want to be heard by someone besides yourself. The spring reverb is decent, but I wish it had independent settings for separate channels. I also sometimes wish there were adjustable mids on the gain channel so I could dump 'em when I need my metal fix. For the price, though, it's tough to beat.

I've had this amp for about 8 years and have loved it since (I guess we're in a committed relationship). It sounds awesome for what I like to play (80s/early 90s glam rock). Gets that Marshall tone if that's what you're after (why I got it). I've played a few different guitars through it, including a Les Paul and a Strat; all of them sounded great. The first guitar I used it with was an 80s era Washburn electric with an s/s/h setup and it sounded good too. I can't remember the exact model because it was stolen (along with my Fender P-Bass) several years ago when I was on vacation. If I ever find the bastards, I'll likely be writing my next equipment review from prison. Fortunately, they didn't take this amp; I guess because it is kinda heavy (damn lazy criminals).
As others have mentioned, the clean channel does clip a bit as you crank it up. Can create the dilemma of either distorted cleans (sorry for the oxymoron) that can be heard or nice cleans with not enough volume in some live situations.
I love the boost channel for rock rhythm and lead. Compares in many ways to a friend of mine's JCM (at 1/4 the price).
In short this amp works well for anything rock or with a rock edge to it (i.e. SRV blues) though likely not heavy enough for some types of metal. It works fine for what I like but I'm not so sure it would get "brutal" (as the prompt says) enough for Korn and the like. Since I don't like that stuff, no worries for me. (Not dissing it, just ain't partial to it. Besides, I think I waived my right to dis anyone else's music as soon as I started playing Warrant, Poison, and Faster Pussycat songs through this amp.)

Mixed bag here.
The most common problem with this amp seems to be unreliable pots. I've seen it in other reviews and two friends of mine who also own this amp have expreienced it, esp. on the reverb and the clean channel volume. Just have 'em cleaned though.
I have some problems with the reverb as well (and so does a friend of mine) - it cuts in and out. However, since it has no independent control for separate channels you're better off using a separate reverb or multi-effects processor anyway, so I'm no gonna count that against the amp too much.
However, I bought this amp third-hand and had seen the way a previous owner treated it. Banged around, dropped, it was even once sprayed down with a water hose (no s--t). Needless to say it's much happier with me. Still works and still sounds good. If it can withstand that (and I thought it had just become a giant paperweight when I saw it happen), then you gotta give it some credit.
Keep in mind there is a tube in the preamp which eventually will need replacing (though mine is still going after 8 years).

Never dealt with Marshall, never want to. Like I said, bought it third-hand and methinks immersing it in water likely voids any warranty.
Fortunately, my father in law is an electronics engineer (or something like that) so he takes care of any problems I have with it. Basically, occassional cleaning of those aforementioned unreliable pots.

I've been playing for ten years or so, mainly rock, but I played bass in my college jazz band and old school metal for a while. I have some other gear, including a Marshall bass rig that is pretty good too. Also, I've helped some friends and former bandmates shop around and fiddle with their gear and I really think Marshall is the way to go for rock, especially if you like to keep your gear setup simple.
Bottom line, if you're looking for Marshall tube sound at a bargain price this is a good bet. Obviously you may need one of its bigger brothers if you want to use it for larger gigs, and you should expect to do some routine maintenance on it since its no longer manufactered so you'd have to buy used.
I really dig this amp. If it were stolen (which it almost was), I would almost definitely buy it again or something akin to it. In fact, I recently tried a Valvestate AVT combo which I'm thinking of upgrading to (for more power and built in effects - I hate hauling gear). Always try something before you buy it.
If there's anyone else out there, especially in my area (Hawaii), who likes playing rock (especially 80s/90s glam/hair metal) feel free to email me. Love to jam when I can find the time.

Bought it new in 1993, sold it due to moving overseas in 2001. Loud 40-watt combo, hybrid design. Power stage is solid state, clean channel is non-master volume, solid state, distorted channel is master volume, with one 12AX7 tube. There's a preamp line out and power amp line in, which you can use as an effects loop (but no wet/dry mix). No headphone socket, which it needs.

The speaker was a Celestion G30, and that was no doubt part of why it sounded so good.

The distortion is great, it has that Marshall sound. This was the best sounding of all the small Valvestates, better than any of the VS series that replaced it. You can just about reach that mid-scooped Metallica sound if you have a guitar with high output: better for 70's hard rock than 80's metal, though.

The clean channel sounds OKish at low volume, if you use some external fx to compensate for the fact that it has absolutely no sparkle. On its' own it's dull. Go past 12 o-clock on the gain, and you no longer have a clean channel, you have an unsuccessful crunch channel.

There's also reverb which applies whichever channel you're using, and it's not that great...but better than none

Giving this category a high mark because the distortion is just so good.

Mine developed a problem, the sound cut out sporadically and then completely. Solved this by putting a little 6 inch cable out of the line out socket into the power amp in socket. Would have been easy to fix properly, but never bothered. The footswitch stopped working after I left it in a damp garage for 2 years, I wonder why.

Never bothered

Used this with a 1984 Yamaha SG3000S, a 1979 Gibson Les Paul Standard and a 1993 Charvel Custom. The Marshall and the Yamaha was a fantastic combination, the Marshall and the Les Paul almost as good. This was a great little amp for blasting away at home, in rehearsals and for a small gig. It did OK when playing in a 6-piece band, but I had to angle the amp between wall and floor to hear it well: or sit it on a chair. It doesn't project very well when it's sitting flat on the floor.

I could have done with more headroom, so I'd buy another Marshall Valvestate, but one with a higher wattage. You just can't beat the sound for the price.

Im not sure how old the amp is I bought it second hand..
I play anything from Metal to punk to Indie It easily does them all.
2 channels with footpedal, plenty of gain the clean channels not as nice as say a fender princeton but it's nice enough for me
The features are ok.. I'd like it to have the ability to power another cab.
I use it my bedroom and at band practices and small gigs it's got enough power deffinatly.

Telecaster Single coil and humbucker
The sound could be nicer on the clean channel but besides that it's great for my style punk/ska(clean used a lot)/metal/rock
It's not noisy.
It can make anything from Indie clean to all out death metal in one amp.
The clean channel at FULL CRANK does disort but it's hardly what you'd call ROARING..
The boost channels distortion is down right amazing

It's lasted me so far, I'd gig without a back up
Not broken down yet *touch wood*

not delt with em but I reckon it wud be appauling coz it's a big company

I've been playing 9 years, I've not had much other gear but Im pleased with this amp.
If It were stolen or Lost I'd deffinatly buy another Marshall without a doubht.
I love the distortion, I hate the clean
I compared it to a Fender Princeton 65, The clean on the fender was amazing but the gain on the distortion was cheap and boring.
I wish it had 110 more watts and a 4x12 cab with it :)
Marshall are worth the cash

I bought the amp in "92" at the time there wasn't whole lot really to
choose from - for the money not a bad deal...A clean channel,and boost.Mostly I used it for around the house - in rehearsal it seems to
get buried

I mostly ran Strats thru it, Using a RP-7 helped getting away from that boxly sound. I ran it thru the clean channel.Not bad.
Without the RP-7 it's almost flat.

Would not use it for gigging...It did break down during rehearsal and
that's where I found the 12ax7, it must be soldered into the PC board
Any it's at the shop now...If it's more than $50.00 to fix, forget it.

N/A

With all the combo's out now, No I would not buy another

I had bought my 8040 in 91-92 no a bad practice amp around the house,
but for abnd rehearsls it can get buried. Maybe little too bright.
I used mostly Fender guitars.In the boost channel you have to work
a'little to get a sound you can live with.Clean channel with a RP-7
sounds even better.

The amp can sound boxly??

Never gave any problems until the pre amp tube went out...
The tube appears to be sealed in, I have in the shop right now to be
serviced..See what happens??

All right for home use